Air driven vibrator



June 24, 1958 `,1 D, MCKELLAR 2,840,354

AIR DRIVE VIBRATOR l Filed Sept. 9, 1955 United States Patent() 2,840,354 Am DRIVEN vIBRA'roR `lohn D. McKellar, Inglewood, Calif.

Application September 9, 1955, Serial No. 533,271

2 Claims. (Cl. 259--1) This invention relates to mechanical Vibrators, and more particularly, to a vibrator of the type utilizing one `or more rotating eccentric Weights to produce a shaking force.

Vibrators or shakers are used in many industrial and constructional operations for various purposes, such as on test xtures for determining the ability of components to withstand vibration, to agitate feed hoppers or various types of cutting blades, and to mix, settle, or level thick Huid compositions. The present invention is especially suitable for shaking `concrete forms, such as when pouring concrete pipe sections.

Presently known and used devices of this nature consist of an essentric weight, or two geared eccentric weights, driven by an entirely separate electric or air motor connected thereto.l The mounting shafts or other mounting means `are journalledina housing ywhich is adapted to be rigidlyattached to the concrete form or whatever device is to be vibrated. These assemblies are thus rather complicated and expensive, having relatively many actual Voperating elements. v g l f ICC In the laccompanying drawings:

Figure 1 s a plan view of the vibrator with the housing cover removed. I -f Figure 2 is an edge interior view ofthe complete` vibrator, partly in section, taken as indicated by the line A--A in Figure 1. y

Referring to the drawings, a box or housing 1 conf tains two geared wheels 2 which are mounted on parallel shafts installed in the housing 1. The two Vwheels are of equal diameter and will rotate in opposite respective -directions due to the meshing of the gear teeth onptheir periphery. Each wheel Z carries an eccentric Vweight 3 integral therewith, this weight being large enough to provide a substantial vibrating force when thefwheel is spinning. i Y 'f Y One wheel shown herein has a plurality of turbine blades -4 located thereon as near to the toothed rim as practical. These blades 4 are also integral with Ythe wheel, are curved in cross section, and extend on one side of the wheel perpendicular to the plane thereof.` They are further positioned so that the centers of the concave cupped surfaces are approximately tangent to radii of the wheel. In other words, they are placed at an angle which will cause the most efcient wheel driving reaction when a Yjet Vofair is delivered through a nozzle 5 fixed in the side of the housing 1 and pointing toward the blades 4 at the wheel position where the gear teeth are in engagement with' the other wheel. Bothiwheels could carry, turbine blades if desired, in which case the nozzle 5 would beY positioned *on the perpendicular bri- Isector of a line joining the two wheel shafts. Of course,

It is a general object oftheppresent invention to prol vide a vibrator for the above describedV purposes which is extremely simple, rugged, and inexpensive,"

Another object of this invention is to provide such a vibrator having substantially fewer moving or operating parts thanare necessary in conventional vibrators.

A further object is to provide a vibrator assembly wherein the parts themselves can be made with an absolute minimum of close fitting or critical-tolerance dimensions.

Still another object of the present invention is to pro vide a vibrator having the above desirable features with a maximum ellciency of operation comparable to the bestpresently known and more complicated vibrator units.

Other objects and features of advantage will be apparent upon reading the detailed description of a pre- Y ferred embodiment of this invention to follow.

Briey, my invention comprises a basic vibrator wheel having an integral eccentric weight, integral turbine blades for being rotatably driven by air, for example, and integral gear teeth if desired. The blades are curved in one direction or plane, only, and are essentially straight in the length dimension thereof, which is the thickness dimension of the wheel. The Wheel has these various integral elements provided thereon in such a manner and in such locations that the wheel as thus defined comprises a single castable component requiring only the most elementary molding and casting procedures to manufacture, 'as will be referred to in more detail later. The vibrator wheels are adaptable to being used singly, paired, or

stacked in tandem as desired. A nozzle in the housing i when just one wheelhas blades 4, the nozzle 5 ca n obvio-usly be placedat any suitable location andposition in theY housing,and twoV or more nozzles could be employe'd as desired. i I g j,

VThe wheels 2 as disclosed herein represent a construction or structure entirely new vand novel in the shaker art., Wheels '2 are cast (or forged) fromiron, steel, or brass, or' other preferred material, as aY single unit containing the eccentric weight and turbine blades (and gear teeth if desired) in the wheel las formed. As shown, one side of the wheel is completely llat and plain, in the plane of the wheels rotation, with the eccentric weight 3 and blades 4 projecting in a thickness direction from the other side, so that all draft angles are made toward this one side in a very simple manner, and no cores or loose removable pieces whatever are required in the mold or die. Of course, other wheel, Weight, and blade designs could be provided in accordance with ythis invention, and the present configuration is shown only by way Y of illustration and not limitation.

For instance, the gear teeth could be machined entirely from a circular cast wheel, since they will usually require some rough machine nishing, along with the machining of the centralhole or hub for a bushing or bearing (not shown). But this latter hole is the one and only part of the whole assembly requiring a somewhat close tolerance size. The gear teeth may be made smaller than illlustrated herein, but even they need no precision or close-tolerance fit as do gear teeth on other types `of similar machinery, since they `are used in this instance only for synchronizing the eccentric weights 3. No definite close Iclearances between running and stationary parts are necessary. l

To continue with the assembly description ofthe present embodiment shown in Figures l and 2, it is noted that the eccentric weights are located directly opposite each other in the position illustrated. When the wheels Z have rotated one-half revolution, the weights will be adjacent to each other on the inside rims of the wheels. Therefore, it is seen that with this two-Wheel L'Il'lislillustrates 'a preferred and-wellknown larrange-A ment of a pair ,ofzeccentrc weighted. wheelslfor alinear vibration,v but itis to be distinctlyiunderstood that one.

eccentric weighted wheel couldbe usednby itself, for example, to producea rotating vector vibration for `shaking concrete forms or other devices in this latter manner. Alternatiyely, two, such wheels can be assembled on .a common shaft to provide variable eccentricity by relatively xing lthe `eccentric vweights in various positions.

The? housing 1 is held together by corner bolts passing through spacers 6and a top cover 7 (Figure 2). The Wheel shafts` can' also comprise bolts utilizing spacers at thesamerelative position. The spacers 6 leave an opening all around the housing 1 for exhaustinglthe air from nozzle to the atmosphereafter it has been used to spin, the wheels 2. d

It is thus seen thatuwhen an air line, for example, is attached to nozzle 5; and the entire housing fastened rigidly tothe device to be vibrated, a simple, etcient, and ruggedushaker is thereby provided, which requires no separate motor to drive it. The inexpensive parts` can bequiclgly andeasily made and assembled, and there are no adjustments to be made after initially mating the geared wheels in the desired` relation. Speeds of several thousand R. P. (8,000 to 20,000) are preferred and easily obtainable with this invention.

My'invention has` met with great favor in actual commercial` use. Besides its economy of manufacture, anotherobvious reason for its usefulness is its eicient operation. By using actual turbineblades or buckets in particular new arrangement, an impulse turbine is lprovidedwhereinitheV air stream is reversed by the blades and the velocity pressure is effectively Vtransferred into the` desired workoutput, as with the well-known Pelton Wheel construction. Thus, static pressure alone not depended upon for the working force. As mentioned previously, the` blades 4 are of the cylindrical type or form, i. e., having straight elements in a direction perpendicular to the wheel face, for casting reasons.

What is claimed is:

`l. A vibrator comprising a housing, a wheel rotatable on a fixed axis therein, said wheel having an eccentric Weighting portion integral therewith and of the same material as s-aid wheel, concave turbine blades normal to one face of said wheel and arranged in a ring near the periphery of said wheel, said blades also being integral with and of the same material as said wheel, all thickness elements of said wheel, including said weighting portion and said blades, being substantially straight but having a slight draft taper in a common direction, a nozzle extending through said housing and directed at the concave sides of said blades, and a cover removably secured to said housing, said cover being spaced from said housing along at least one edge thereof by spacing means at the points of cover attachment, for fluid exit, said housing being otherwise closed.

2. A vibrator comprising` a housing, a wheel rotatable on a fixed axis therein, said wheel having an eccentric weighting portion thereon, concave turbine blades normal to one face of said, wheel and arranged in a ring near the periphery of said wheel, a nozzle extending through saidn housing and directed at the concave sides of said blades, and a cover removably secured to said housing, said cover being` spaced from said housing along at least one edge thereof by spacing means at the points of cover attachment, for uid exit, said `housing being otherwise closed.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITEDV STATES PATENTS 1,346,221 Liedtke July 13, 1920 2,436,251 Dobie et al. Feb. 17, 194s FOREiGN rA'rENrs 278,481 Germany Sept. 29, 1914 895,286 France 1 Mar. 27, 1944 V1,072,517 France Mar. 17, 1954 

